Commentary

In Canada, Queen plays second fiddle to Kings

Commentary: Hockey players are the real royalty in Canada

By

BillMann

PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. (MarketWatch) — The Queen is on the money in Canada. But most of the money — and interest — in Canada these days is on the Kings. Because hockey players are the true Canadian royalty.

A Canadian Press poll last month indicated that 51% of Canadians supported Queen Elizabeth, celebrating her Diamond Jubilee this week, to remain as Canada’s head of state. That’s a six percentage point increase since the last poll in 2009.

Since her coronation in 1952, Elizabeth has made 25 state visits to Canada, and has been present for some key events, such as the inauguration of the St. Lawrence Seaway and the openings of the Montreal World’s Fair/Expo and Olympics, in 1967 and 1976, respectively. But if QE-II really wants to endear herself to Canadians, she should probably consider attending a Stanley Cup playoff game some time, however undignified the events might be down on the ice.

Call it native rituals.

This isn't to say that, even during the current Cup playoff finals, The Diamond Jubilee isn’t getting attention in the Canadian media, although it certainly appears the U.S. TV networks are putting even more money and enthusiasm into their coverage. Americans seem far more interested in the royal family than most Canadians I’ve asked. The subject of royalty rarely comes up in conversations I hear during my frequent visits to Canada (mostly to B.C.). That’s because Canada today is vastly changed from the place it was in 1952 when the Queen was crowned.

Increasingly, it is a land of immigrants, and Canadian organizations with names like the Monarchist League are more likely to get chuckles than attention from young Canadians.

Last summer’s post-honeymoon visit to Canada by Prince William and his new bride Kate had far more of a feel of a celebrity event than anything royal. When the royal couple jetted down to L.A. for a quick star-studded visit to end the tour, I saw more curtsying in Tinseltown than in Canada.

And when Prince Charles and Camilla visited Canada for four days last month to mark the Diamond Jubilee, the royal visit received only perfunctory coverage in the Canadian media. Again, the hockey playoffs were going on.

The Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) is in London for the Diamond Jubilee festivities this week, and is anchoring its evening newscast, “The National,” from there, as well as covering other major Jubilee events live. But the CBC has a lower profile these days — the latest federal budget slashed CBC funding 10%, and staff and programming cuts are continuing at the crown corporation.

Even though there are no Canadian teams this year — Vancouver was in the finals in 2011, and it was a riot — this week’s final of the Stanley Cup pitting faraway (from Canada, anyway) L.A. and New Jersey, is getting far more Canadian media attention than the Queen’s 60th. “Just try going into a bar or restaurant up here and not seeing a hockey game,” a Vancouver friend told me this week. “I’m not seeing a lot of Diamond Jubilee coverage. And if a game’s not going on, you’re seeing Stanley Cup replays.”

Many Canadians, a Vancouver sports radio station repeated last week, are rooting for the L.A. Kings instead of their opponents, the New Jersey Devils. That’s because there are 14 Canadian players on the West Coast team. It was the same thing last year when Vancouver lost to Boston — polls showed more Canadians were rooting for the U.S. team simply because it had more Canadian players on its roster.

So, men with beards are more popular in Canada these days than ladies with crowns. (Growing a beard is an old Stanley Cup tradition. One Canadian newspaper even referred to the hairy playoffs this week as a “beard-off.”)

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is in London this week to take part in the Diamond Jubilee Festivities, but the Canadian public figure who has the most interesting links to the Crown is Canada’s High Commissioner to Britain, Gordon Campbell.

Campbell was until recently the Premier of British Columbia, whose capital is Victoria, aka Blighty West. Victoria is in full Diamond Jubilee mode this week with dog shows and royal-themed tea parties. In front of B.C.’s stately Parliament building there stands a stern-looking statue of the dowdy Queen Victoria, who, tradition says, chose the location for the provincial capital. She’s the only British monarch who ruled longer than Elizabeth II has, 63 years.

Campbell’s great grandfather, it turns out, attended the last Diamond Jubilee, for Victoria.

Campbell’s relation, Aylesworth Bowen Perry led a contingent of Stetson-wearing Mounties to London back in 1897 to mark Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. They took part in the Changing of the Guard.

Perry became the longest-serving commissioner of Canada’s national police force — which is also the local police force in most Canadian towns. Perry commanded the Royal police under all three names it’s had: North-West Mounted Police, Royal Northwest Mounted Police and RCMP.

The RCMP mounted unit recently performed its famous, tourist-pleasing Musical Ride at Windsor Castle as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebration.

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